Today I want to talk about this awesome article I just read by Leonard Ravenhill "Weeping between the porch and the altar". I heard about this article when I went to church with my grandparents this past Sunday. The pastor was talking about how you know when you are currently FILLED with the Holy Spirit. He was trying to say that this is different from having the holy spirit inside you. This is a feeling or a time, when the Holy Spirit FILLS YOU UP! When you are confident, excited, so filled that you can't hold it(whatever it is for you) in anymore and you just want to dance, you want to jump, throw your hands in the air, and you really don't care who's watching you, in fact, you WANT people to see you this excited and happy and joyful because you know that only through Christ can they too feel this way.

I get this feeling a LOT, but I am still uncomfortable doing so in public because I worry that other people are going to be angry with me and tell me to stop. I really don't want to, but I realize that at that moment in time, as amazing as it would be, I would be taking away from that person's scheduled time for working out, learning to play volleyball, or whatever work they are trying to get done. I wish that I could get over this feeling that is holding me back. I want to just talk to people about what makes me thrive, I want to tell people how amazing life is when you strive for greatness, not for other people's recognition, but because you WANT to be doing whatever it is you're striving for. I want to tell people that they should be living a spiritually and morally strong life not because it is the right thing to do, but because it is the most amazing thing to do. I want people to be so ENTHRALLED by their own life that they can't help but share with others, they can't help but be friends with everyone they come in contact with.

For the longest time I used to think that it didn't really matter whether or not you were a christian in order to live a moral and righteous life. Especially when there are thousands of other religions that seem to uphold these same values and beliefs. These religions use actions, belief in oneself, and the desire to be amazing as the founding blocks to become successful and happy. After reading this article I am one step closer to being able to fully explain what they mean when they say that you have to be a christian to fall in the category of successful and happy. I think that it is because you cannot be selfish when you strive for these goals, you cannot seek self fulfillment in yearning to be moral and righteous. There MUST be a universal rule of morality and righteousness, one that you cannot spin and try to make it suit your needs. This moral and righteous life is GOD'S WILL. That is what makes life uniquely HIS.

Also, when you are performing at a high level of sports competition, they say that you lose your self-talk and you think about NOTHING when you are in that moment. I feel that this is the same thing that happens when you are in a situation where you are speaking to a crowd and you have no real idea where these words are coming from, but you just know that it is the right thing to be saying at that time, that this is what the people you are talking to need to hear. This is NOT something that you can study, think about or know, and it is here that you die to yourself and let God speak through you. It can't be you talking anymore. I feel that it is truly coming from someone else... a higher being as it were. This is why it MUST be God that fills you up , it is HIS will, because in that moment, it is the universal moral and righteous code that is speaking, not you.